1.Stand
Against Racism & Inequality, on behalf of Kamaran Ahmad Ali and family, complained
to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that metro.co.uk breached
Clause 2 (Privacy) and Clause 4 (Intrusion into grief or shock) of the Editors’
Code of Practice in an article headlined “Man found dead with penis chopped off
and put next to his body”, published on 8 September 2017.

2.The
article was a report of the pre-trial proceedings of an individual, charged
with the murder of a member of Mr Ali’s family. The article included details of
the deceased’s injuries, and claimed that these details had been heard during
the court proceedings.

3.The
complainant said that these details
had not been mentioned in court. It said that the family had not been aware of
these details prior to the publication of the article, and that the inclusion
had intruded into the family’s private life, and into their grief. The
complainant expressed particular concern that publication had not been handled
sensitively and noted the distress that the publication of the article had
caused the family.

4.The
publication apologised for the distress that the article had caused the family but
did not accept that there had been a breach of the Code. It said that the details
were referred to in open court and that as there were no reporting restrictions
in place, it was entitled to report on these. While the publication
acknowledged that the details were upsetting to read, it did not consider that
their inclusion was insensitive, such as to breach the Code.

Relevant Code Provisions

5.Clause
2 (Privacy)

i) Everyone
is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and
correspondence, including digital communications.

ii) Editors
will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life
without consent. Account will be taken of the complainant's own public
disclosures of information.

iii) It is
unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in public or
private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Clause 4 (Intrusion into
grief or shock)

In cases
involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with
sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. These provisions
should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.

Mediated Outcome

6.The
complaint was not resolved through direct correspondence between the parties.
IPSO therefore began an investigation into the matter.

7.Following IPSO’s intervention, the publication
offered to write a private letter of apology to the family.

8.The complainant said that this would resolve the
matter to its satisfaction.

9.As the complaint was successfully
mediated, the Complaints Committee did not make a determination as to whether
there had been any breach of the Code.

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